 Guides |
Parks |
National Parks and Reserves:
Kenya’s national parks and reserves rate among the best in Africa and,
despite the ravages of human land exploitation and poaching, there are still
an incredible variety of birds and mammals in the parks.
Going on safari (from the Swahili for ”journey”) is an integral part of
the Kenya experience and more popular parks such as Masai Mara National
Reserve and Amboseli National Park can become so crowded in the high season
(January and February} that your wildlife photo’s may include neighboring
minivans in the background.
Fortunately, there area numbers of smaller and more remote parks that only see
a handful of visitors at anytime of year. In addition to protecting the
wildlife, some parks have been created to preserve the landscape itself – Mt
Kenya, Mt Elgon, Hell’s Gate, Mt Longemont and Kakamega Forest are all worth
investigating.
A number of marine national parks have also been established, providing
excellent diving and snorkeling opportunities. Although all the parks offer
the chances to ”get up close and personal” with wildlife, remember that
these are wild animals and their actions can be unpredictable.
Head the warnings of guides and rangers while on safari and seek local advice
before venturing off into the wilds
Some important national parks and reserves include:
Aberdare National Park: It offers dramatic highlands with majestic Chania and
Karura waterfalls tumbling into the rainforest below.
Amboseli National Park: Amboseli dry plains and scrub forest is famous for
large elephant herds, backed by looming Mt Kilimanjaro.
Hell’s Gate National Park: Hell’s Gate has dramatic rocky outcrops and
gorges – making it a great place for cyclists and walkers.
Lake Bogoria National Park: The highlight here is a scenic soda lake with over
one million lesser flamingoes.
Lake Nakuru National Park: This national park is an ornithological paradise
with more than 400 recorded bird species, including huge numbers of flamingoes
and many rhinos.
Masai Mara National Park: Kenya’s most famous park, it has an astonishing
amount of wildlife; the highlight is the annual wildebeest migration in July
and October.
Meru National Park: Meru has rainforests, swamplands, and grasslands with
plentiful wildlife including zebras, giraffes and buffaloes.
Mt Elgon National Park: Its famous salt-digging elephants and ancient caves
are at the base of a vast extinct volcano, which can be explored by foot.
Mt Kenya National Park: The trek to the summit of Africa’s second highest
mountain (5199m) is one of the great African hikes.
Nairobi National Park: Easily accessible from Nairobi, this is a great place
to spot black rhino, bird life, and the less common antelope.
Samburu, Buffalo Springs & Shaba National Reserves: These reserves
encompass semiarid open savanna, with easily spotted wildlife.
Shimba Hills National Park: Shimba Hills has densely forested hills
overlooking the coast with numerous elephants and the rare sable antelope
(seen only here).
Tsavo East and West National Parks: The largest of Kenya’s national parks.
Tsavo has sweeping plains, ancient volcanic caves and plentiful wildlife.
Entry fees for national parks are controlled by KWS, while the local council
administrates national reserves, such as Masai Mara
National Park Entry Fees:
Park entry fees in Kenya are slowly being converted to a “smartcard”
system, which covers the cost of entry for the vehicle and passengers, and
camping fees. The cards must be charged with credit in advance and can only be
“topped up” at certain locations. The main purpose of the system is to
enable park wardens to keep track of who is in the park and make sure that
everyone has paid an entry fee. The cards remain the property of KWS and must
be surrendered once they are out of credit. Any credit left on the card once
you are finished with your trip becomes the property of KWS and is not
refunded.
The smartcard system is in use at Nairobi, Lake Nakuru, Aberdare, Amboseli,
Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks. The other parks still work on a cash
system. You can purchase and charge smartcards at KWS headquarters in Nairobi
and Mombasa, at Aberdare National Park headquarters, at the main gate at Lake
Nakuru, at Voi Gate in Tsavo East, and at the Malindi Marine National Park
office.
There are five categories of parks in Kenya. These are:
Category A:
Aberdare, Amboseli, Lake Nakuru
Entry fees: $30/adult; $10/child
Camping fees: $10
Category B:
Tsavo East & West
Entry fees: $27/adult; $10/child
Camping fees: $10
Category C:
Nairobi, Shimba Hills, Meru
Entry fees: $23/adult; $10/child
Camping fees: $10
Category D:
All other land based parks
Entry fees: $15/adult; $5/child
Camping fees: $8
Marine
Marine based parks
Entry fees: $8/adult; $5/child
The Masai Mara, Samburu, Buffalo Springs & Shaba National Reserves have
the same entry fees as Category A national parks.